Examining the relationship between resistance to change and undergraduate engineering students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes

Abstract

Engineering professional associations identified environmental sustainability as a key responsibility of the educated engineer. Data from national surveys of the general public demonstrate low environmental knowledge levels and a high level of resistance when it comes to environmental behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between first-year engineering students’ environmental knowledge and attitudes and resistance to change (RtC). The authors administered instruments measuring RtC and environmental knowledge and attitudes to three groups (n = 3169) of first-year engineering students in the fall semesters of 2008–2010. Students showed the highest mean scores on the Cognitive Rigidity subscale of RtC. Overall, weak, negative correlations were found between most RtC subscales and environmental knowledge/attitudes, meaning that students with higher RtC score lower overall on environmental knowledge and consider sustainable development less important. Findings can aid researchers and curriculum designers in understanding students’ knowledge levels and the relationship between RtC factors and knowledge/attitudes.

Keywords:

• resistance to change
• environmental knowledge
• environmental attitudes
• first-year engineering undergraduates
• engineering education
• environmental sustainability

Acknowledgement

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation [DRL 0935174].